Gunning for $1000 Milestone!

Wow, things are going great with the Mechalarum Kickstarter project! I'm already up to $975, and need just a little bit more to push it up into the quadruple digits.

It's important to have mini-goals to work towards when you're trying to reach a really big goal - otherwise, the really big goal can get overwhelming! That's why I've set a target of reaching $1000 by Friday. Every little bit helps :)

Another important goal-reaching technique is to create visual aids that will reinforce the vision of success in your brain. So I decided to mock up a little progress chart for my project. Of course, I couldn't just draw a regular ol' thermometer-type design, so I went ahead and used my (somewhat limited) artistic skills to create a Kiellen-like character flying up into the sky, with some little swirls of flying-ness radiating out below her.

Here's how far we've come in only a few short days!

Looking Forward to the New Year: Writing in 2012

I have to say, I'm really excited looking towards the next year. I know, I know, it's really just an arbitrary date change, but like many people I find it useful at some point during the year to take stock, and this is as good a time as any.

A lot of changes have happened in 2011, both writing related and otherwise. They include a move, career exploration, and a huge shift in the ways that I've managed to leverage my freelance writing. Despite all of the changes, a lot of the year (like many years before) felt like a set-up for things to come in the future. I hope 2012 will be the year the wheels actually start turning.

There's mixed opinion out there as to whether it's better to share your goals or keep them to yourself (I probably mentioned this before, but it's worth repeating). Derek Sivers of TED talk fame says not to share; a host of others, among them The Change Blog and Goalmigo, have the opposite opinion. I've found both techniques to be equally useful (or useless, as the case may be), though certainly writing them down for personal use is better than leaving them to rattle around untethered in your head.

So I've decided to describe the coming year as a seer might, putting out ideas rather than hard-and-fast goals. Mmm, yes, the crystal ball is showing me something... I can see clearly now... There is another move in the near future. Writing, lots of writing. More fiction. More blogging. More connecting with writers and helping to showcase their work. More opportunities. And something else, it's not quite certain, but I'll be doing something next year that's unlike anything I've done to date.

Okay, so maybe the crystal ball was a bit of a bust. Anyway, the point is I'm excited to be going forward, and I hope that all of you are, too!

Thoughts on Setting Writing Goals and July 2011 Update

I was thinking earlier about the writing goals that I set for myself in June. I was frustrated that I hadn't done as well as I'd hoped, and I was trying to figure out why I was having trouble. Although I did manage to write all my Trail's Edge blog posts, and I blogged even more than I said I would over at You Amuse Me, I fell short with Weird Worm articles (seven instead of eighteen), didn't start my mystery blog, and didn't read The Happiness Project. Out of all of them, the Weird Worm goal bugged me the most.

Later in the day, I went for a swim (trust me, this is an important part of the story). My goal was to swim for at least fifteen minutes.I didn't have much more time than that to spend, because I had to get back to work. So why was it that I felt so frustrated after a fourteen minute swim? It was surely close enough to my goal to make the difference not matter. It bothered me that after all the work of getting ready to swim, going to the pool, and actually doing the deed, I still didn't feel like I'd done a good enough job.

June 2011 Goals

A little late to the game, but I wanted to make sure that I wrote these down to hold myself accountable...

1. Write 18 15 Weird Worm articles. I'm not cutting myself slack just because I had trouble reaching my goal last month! I've written three so far, so I've got a bit of catching up to do.
2. Write 8 Trail's Edge Blog posts. I'm liking this gig a lot. Stay tuned for more info! If you're interested in checking out my most recent article, it's here: Best Outdoors Activities for Father’s Day.
3. Four posts per week on You Amuse Me. I've got a formula set up, so this one should be pretty straightforward. Blogging takes less time than writing articles!
4. Keep up with social media/promotions. A little more work with the new Facebook page and Twitter account, but still doable.
5. Launch my new mystery blog. This will also require more scheduling of posts, but I'm really excited about the new niche. We'll see how the timing goes with everything else that's going on.
6. Exercise. I'm going to start going to Ultimate one day a week, and running twice a week. I ran a mile last Sunday and my legs are still sore - that simply won't do!
7. Reduce the number of exclamation points I use! At least, in my articles. It's been pointed out to me that I sometimes use them to excess. I can't help that I sometimes want to convey my excitement about things!
8. Read The Happiness Project. My mom enjoyed it, so I figure it's worth a go.

Yay! I'm pumped up for June!

May 2011 Goals Recap

Wow, May was intense... more productive than I'd hoped in some ways, and less productive in others.

1. Write at least 17 Weird Worm articles. Phew, only managed to do eight. Then again, moving totally threw me off. I'm going to have to recommit for next month!
2. Continue to exercise. Well, I've been spending more time outside, but not exactly "exercising" very much.
3. Work on writing four hours per day. Again, the move made me lose focus.
4. Fully explore niche online markets. The Best Kinect Games niche isn't doing quite as well as I'd hoped. I might do a little more work here in the coming months.
5. Explore new article markets. This actually worked out surprisingly well for me! Sticking with the writing has paid off, as I've been approached by a new market called Trail's Edge Blog. My first article for them is called 5 Tips For Buying Your First Running Shoes, and you should check it out because it's funny and informative and sweet (if I do say so myself).
6. Move. At least this went pretty smoothly. I got to drive one of those enormous U-Haul trucks for three hundred miles, which was quite an adventure. And now I'm prepared for the next stage in my life journey! If "being prepared" is the same as having all of you stuff in boxes and not being able to find any of it, that is...

Stay tuned for June's goals (I know, time to get cracking!)

May 2011 Goals

May is here, so it's time for a new crop of goals!

1. Write at least 17 Weird Worm articles. My goal last month was to write twenty, and I managed to write thirteen. I figure seventeen articles should be a good goal this month.
2. Continue to exercise. Last month I did about twelve miles per week. I'm going to try and stick with that this month. And also, get better running shoes and stretch so I avoid IT band problems.
3. Work on writing four hours per day. This was my goal towards the end of last month, and it went okay. I'm finding that increasing things slowly over time works better than trying to take huge leaps.
4. Fully explore niche online markets. I've been working on the Best Kinect Games niche market using Squidoo and HubPages. This isn't exactly freelance writing, although it does use a lot of the same skills. Ideally, I'd fully realize a niche market with a blog that I can keyword optimize. The tricky part about this is finding a niche that's both a.) profitable and b.) something I'm interested enough in to keep up with.
5. Explore new article markets? I've been toying with this goal on and off for a while. Again, this involves finding new markets that I really want to write for; After all, I'm supposedly doing this job because I enjoy it, and if I'm going to do things I don't enjoy there are plenty of more stable and better paying opportunities out there. I'm learning that, as a freelance writer, I don't need a ton of different markets; I just need a few that I really enjoy writing for, that pay enough money to make them worth my while. I'm interested in writing for health, cooking, fitness, and travel markets: I'm also worried that the competition in these market might be fierce. I guess I just need to keep chipping away!
6. Move. My lease is up this month, so I'll be moving to a temporary location while I figure out where my next step will take me. So I'll be spending time packing, getting rid of junk, hiring a moving truck, and all of that fun stuff.

That should be enough to keep me busy for the month. If not, I'll add to the list!

April 2011 Goals Recap

April has just come to an end. Time to see how I did on those goals!

1. Decide on where I want to go with writing fiction. Well... so far I've taken a break from fiction this month. I need to make sure that the passion is there before I throw myself into another project, or spend more time working on my old ones.
2. Write Weird Worm articles. I want to get at least 20 13 7 done this month. I managed to do a total of 13, which isn't too bad.
3. Plan for travel. I haven't made too much progress on this. My mom is trying to drum up support from the relatives.
4. Keep up with exercising. I want to average 10 miles per week by the end of April. I did great with this goal! 51 miles of running/walking/biking, a personal best.
5. Start a cooking blog? This has fallen by the wayside as I realize that at this point, it will be hard for me to optimize keywords for this type of blog, and there probably won't be a lot of potential for income. I've noticed that people who look up recipes usually aren't looking to buy things. As long as I'm trying to increase my income, I need to focus on moneymakers. 
6. Keep improving traffic to my online articles. My Squidoo traffic is increasing slowly but surely. Still looking for the best niche markets to explore, which will help this.

One thing I did this month that I hadn't planned was to submit my first travel writing article. Still waiting for a response, but it's a pretty cool step no matter what happens!

Decide on Writing Fiction and Other April 2011 Goals

I've been too busy doing the things on this list to make this list, which is an improvement over being too busy slacking off! Here are my April goals:

1. Decide on where I want to go with writing fiction. I'm starting to come to the realization that my heart just hasn't been in the fiction novels I've written. It's a hard thing to come to terms with, because I want to be a fiction writer. I'm just not sure how much I want to write fiction. Or maybe I just haven't come across something that I'm passionate enough about yet. My goal as far as this goes is to gauge my enjoyment of this activity, and see if it's worth it.
2. Write Weird Worm articles. My Weird Worm articles didn't get written last month. But now that I'm used to writing 3,000 words a day, it should be a breeze. I want to get at least 20 13 done this month (7 done already!). And that will give me enough money to buy the digital camera I'm eyeing!
3. Plan for travel. I have an ambitious plan to visit my granddad in England and then my relatives in Norway in May once my lease is up. I also want to leverage this into a travel writing opportunity. I plan on tackling a bit of my huge to-do list each day. I've already started contacting travel mags and writing sample articles.
4. Keep up with exercising. I've been averaging 6.5 miles a week of jogging/walking/biking/hiking, and I want to average 10 by the end of April. So far I'm good with 20 miles this month.
5. Start a cooking blog? I'm playing with the idea of starting a cooking blog. I love to cook, I do it regularly, I love to take photos of food, and I love to blog. However, I'll have to see if I can swing it with everything else that's going on.
6. Keep improving traffic to my online articles. So far, the work I've put into my online content isn't really paying enough for the amount of time I've spent. I want to make sure that I'm using my energy in a productive manner.

That should be more than enough to keep me busy until May!

Recap of March 2011 Goals

Here's a quick recap of how my March 2011 goals went:

• Get the plan for my next novel into reasonably good shape (due March 5). Finished this on time! Whoo hoo!
• Write 50,000 words. Actually ended being about 82,000, as my mentor upped my goal!
• Write 12 articles for Weird Worm. Woefully failed at this one :(
• Approach 2 new markets. I think I need to decide exactly what I want to write before I do this.
• Publish about once a day on writing site Squidoo. I've made another important discovery, that I've written a lot that just isn't earning. To that end, I spent more time editing and deleting lenses than creating new ones.
• Do taxes. This, thankfully, I finished without too much trouble!
• Run 3 miles in 28 minutes. My time hasn't improved greatly, but I think it's better to focus just on getting my total number of miles per week up.

In the next few days, I'll post my updated April goals! Yay!

Working To Finish My February Goals - Writing and Other!

Well, the end of February is just around the corner! Here's a look at how my goals are coming:

1. Finishing my editing assignment. Already mentioned this, but it's extra fun with the strikethrough!
2. Finish starting my new book. The current plan is that I turn in the character sketches and an idea of what the book will be about by Saturday. I'm on schedule, but still a little nervous about whether my plan will work!
3. Ten four articles for Weird Worm. I've written six so far, and started on the seventh. Really hope I can get around to finishing the one article and brainstorming two new ideas today, but I don't wanna! :p
4. Approach one new market. Well, I approached a market, but it turned out to be not exactly what I'm looking for. Sigh. Why is finding new markets so hard? I'll keep my eyes open, but right now I don't know if looking for new markets will be as effective as maximizing the income from my current markets.
5. Run three miles in 30 minutes. I managed 32 minutes today. I've been sick, so I don't know if I'll make the goal by the end of February. We'll see!

Still got a ways to go to get all of my goals done. Here's to coming in just at the deadline!

Lessons Learned from Bathroom Reconstruction

I'm reached the final leg of my epic bathroom reconstruction today. For about a month, I've been scraping, sanding, painting, caulking, sweeping, dusting, removing, and attaching almost every day. And now, I'm about to be finished.

There were many times during this project that I didn't feel like I wanted to go on. Of course, a bathroom is not like a novel - it's a bit harder to give up when your toilet is disconnected and you can't use your shower. Now that I'm almost done, I find myself wondering the big wonder that comes at the conclusion of all great journeys: was it worth it?

Granted, the bathroom is beautiful. The ugly, peeling wallpaper is gone, replaced with the perfect shade of blue paint. The 80's style wooden cabinet and vanity have been updated with several coats of glossy white. I've replaced the mirror with a sexy upscale version that TILTS! There's no comparing the before and after versions.

But still - the project turned out to be much, much more expensive in terms of time, money, and stress than I had expected it would be. In fact, if I had known in the beginning how much it would cost me, and how frustrating it would be, I can't say for sure whether I'd have taken it on. Not only that, but now that I've gotten up close and personal with my bathroom, I know all it's flaws. I know where the paint dripped, where the scraper slipped, where the screwdriver missed it's mark. It was and continues to be rough, to say the least.

In the end, I would have to say yes - it was worth it. I don't believe there's any way to reach the end of a large project and say, that was perfect! Everything turned out exactly how I planned! It's just not going to happen. If you can come out of it having learned a thing or two (how to caulk a joint, for example, or why it's important to flip the breaker switch before installing a light fixture), and have some fun along the way, you can consider yourself a success.

So now I wonder - what does the journey of writing hold in store for me?